Slide Show

Click Image to View Gallery

Anatomy of a Massacre

Michael Dobbs is a prize-winning foreign correspondent and author. Currently serving as a Goldfarb fellow at the Committee on Conscience of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Dobbs is following legal proceedings in The Hague. He has traveled to Srebrenica, Sarajevo and Belgrade, interviewed Mladic’s victims and associates, and is posting documents, video recordings, and intercepted phone calls that shed light on Mladic's personality.

May 15, 2012

Read Caption

At the core of the prosecution case against Mladic is his presence in and around Srebrenica during the days immediately following the capture of the former United Nations "safe area." The prosecution will attempt to demonstrate that he exercised direct command and control over the troops who rounded up, transported, and executed thousands of Muslim prisoners before dumping their bodies into mass graves. The defense will argue that the number of killings has been greatly exaggerated and that Mladic was not present at any of the executions. Here, I'll go through Mladic's movements during the four days surrounding the Srebrenica massacre.

Read Caption

A survivor from Branjevo testifies at the Yugoslav war crimes trial of Radovan Karadzic. He appeared as a "protected witness" under the codename KDZ-333. Before nightfall on July 13, buses arrived to collect the prisoners, who had been ambushed by Serb forces after fleeing Srebrenica. The prisoners were taken to the town of Bratunac, where they spent the night in the buses.

The following morning, KDZ-333 testified, his group of prisoners was taken to an elementary school near the village of Pilica, 30 miles north of Bratunac. They were herded into a gym where they were robbed of their remaining money and valuables. Some prisoners were taken out and shot. After two nights in the gym, they were driven to the Branjevo farm, where they were lined up in front of a pre-dug grave and shot on July 16, 1995. KDZ-333 says that the bullets passed between his body and his arm, which is how he survived.